Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark
by Donna Lea Simpson
Published by Sourcebooks Inc.
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Reviewed by Sara Porter
Donna Lea Simpson’s Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark tries to be a drawing room mystery and a Gothic romance. However, it becomes a book of cliches.
Lady Anne Addison, an 18th century heiress, visits a friend in a creepy Gothic mansion. Is there any other kind? She stumbles upon a dead body and gets involved in a murder investigation that includes illicit affairs, nobles with secrets, and werewolves.
To her credit, Simpson tries to give us a good lead character in Lady Anne. She investigates the murders with the intelligence and free-thinking ideas of modern amateur detectives. However, she doesn’t have much of a personality apart from spouting shocking opinions to her wealthy peers.
Simpson also does her a great disservice by transforming Lady Anne from a liberated woman to a wilting, shrieking heroine, needing to be rescued in the climax.
The romantic lead, Marquess Anthony Darkfell, could use some work too. He has a few nice redeeming qualities, such as his friendship with his freed servant, Osei. But, he is mostly an arrogant jerk who fights with Lady Anne. While argumentative couples are fun to read about, there has to be some underlying affection between them. Lady Anne and the Marquess’ romantic scenes together seem rather forced and tacked on.
Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark is not a novel so much as a checklist for Gothic and mystery properties. Dead bodies, check. Creepy Gothic castle, check. Possible supernatural creatures, check. Goodness even a scene where the protagonists call everyone in the room” to name the murderer,” check.
While good authors play on these properties by giving us believable characters or a bit of humor, Simpson needs to go beyond these conventions to make a good novel. However, the last few chapters leave us some interesting surprises, and the denouement of Lady Anne and the Marquess’ romance gives a fresh take that should have been given to the rest of the novel.
Armchair Interviews says: Heed this reviewer’s comments.